Creativity, innovation & design ar

Word Count 1411

Dylan Hansen
S3789803
Contents
Introduction.............................................................................2
What is creativity, innovation, and design..............................2
Organisational creativity and innovation................................3
Effectiveness of theory and techniques..................................3
Conclusion...............................................................................4
References...............................................................................5
Introduction

Kodak, Nokia, and Blockbuster. What do all three of these corporations have in common? To answer
that question simply, they have all experienced failure to some degree for a similar reason: lack of
creative, innovative and design thinking process. It is often argued that in the context of the
workplace, creativity and other skills required for innovation is not something that can be learned or
taught but must be acquired through exposure to real world business problems and scenarios
(Byron, 2009). This belief promotes a false dichotomy between experience, and theory-based
knowledge. According to Plucker (2017), the worlds best thinkers and innovators have a sound
understanding of how to foster entrepreneurial skills through the comprehension of problem-solving
theory. Based on the prescribed literature and theories the following essay will cover a definition of
creativity, innovation, and design-based thinking and the inter-relationship between each of these
components. Further to this, an organizational and individual perspective of the most productive
approach to creativity and innovation and dimensions associated with this and finally the
effectiveness of drawing techniques from the theory and the associated outcomes. Throughout each
paragraph, real world examples have been drawn upon to support the following contention.

The proceeding discussion will be centered around the argument that for businesses to achieve and
maintain competitive advantage in evolving markets, it is imperative to embrace the key concepts of
fundamental creativity, innovation, and design-thinking theory at an organizational, managerial and
employee level.

What is creativity, innovation, and design

To determine the effectiveness of theory-based learning in terms of creativity, innovation, and

design in the context of the organizational setting, we must first explore the definitions and
meanings of each of these components and why they are important. Franken (1993) contends that
creativity can be defined as “the tendency or ability to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives or
possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with other and entertaining
ourselves and others”. Hughes et al. (2018), defines the concepts of innovation and creativity at
work as processes, outcomes, and products of attempts to develop and introduce new and improved
ways of doing things. It is mentioned that creativity is the phase of idea generation and innovation is
the subsequent stage of implementing said ideas. This indicates that creativity is a precursor to
innovation. The notion that creativity and innovations are guided by set processes and outcomes
suggests that there must be a certain degree of textbook learning to comprehend the creativity
process models to obtain the desired value from creative ideas.

Successful innovation is the production, adoption, assimilation and exploitation of value-added

novelty, and the processes applied to implement creative ideas (Crossnan & Apaydin, 2010). Hutton,
Wong & Gagnon (2018) research contends that there are multiple approaches to innovation types
that an individual and organisation can take. According to Mariello (2007) there are 5 stages of
successful innovation. Stage 1: Idea generation and mobilization, Stage 2: Advocacy and screening,
Stage 3: Experimentation, Stage 4: Commercialization, and Stage 5: Diffusion and implementation.
This strategic approach to organizational innovation as opposed to strokes of serendipity allows for
successful management and formalized processes to encourage innovative thinking.

Design thinking is defined as an analytic and creative process that engages a person in opportunities
to experiment create and prototype models, gather feedback and redesign (Razzouk & Shute, 2012).
Quite often this component is regarded as an innate cognitive skill that does not require academic
research for practical application. Koppen (2014), theorizes that various studies into design thinking
provide a framework for readers to establish thought processes to approach complex problems.

By comprehending the academic definitions of creativity, innovation, and design, it can be

determined that a theoretical approach is a requirement to develop organizational structures that
promote these cognitive processes.

Organisational creativity and innovation

It is often stated that creativity and innovation are one of the most valuable resources a company
can have in the modern economy. Company leaders are now more than ever, embracing innovation
as a tool for business growth. However, with that in mind the question of how to determine good
innovation and bad innovation arises. What can managers do to distinguish high quality creative
ideas when everyone considers themselves to be an innovator? The topic of innovation
management as discussed by Kyllianen (2018), is an extremely complex field of study. By
understanding the core concepts of literature and applying appropriate models to suit the market
the business is operating in, managers are equipped to make sustainable decisions. Kaplan (2012)
highlights the negative impact that is incurred by the lack of theory based best practices, processes
and structures surrounding innovation at an enterprise level.

In the context of organizational creativity, the componential model is utilized by a large proportion
of companies as a foundation for establishing creative working environments (Amabile, 2012). This
model consists of 3 factors: Organisational motivation to innovate: development of a supportive
workplace ecosystem that values creativity and innovation. Resources: advancing work targeted
toward innovation. Management practices: autonomy to formulate ideas and provision problem
solving activities. The application of Amabile’s model, encourages creative enhancing,
entrepreneurial behaviors within the structures of the organisation. Expanding upon this, companies
that hire leaders with strong comprehension of the creative and design based cognitive models, are
shown to facilitate creative behaviors amongst their employees and across the organisation
(Mathisen, Einarsen & Mykletun, 2012). It has been found that one of the most effective methods of
encouraging innovative participation is through clear protocols, Imber (2016) discusses the recount
of Etsy’s creative process model whereby the company integrated clear steps for idea generation,
implementation, and management through “Hack Week” where employees were given the
opportunity to develop ideas, with the incentive of having their ideas rolled out into production.

As such, it can be concluded that fostering and supporting creative climates within organisations is
an enterprise requirement to remain competitive. The most effective method of achieving this is to
ensure organizational leadership have a strong interpretation of the theoretical guidelines.

Effectiveness of theory and techniques

According to a recent report published by Deloitte, 96% of innovation projects coming from within
organisations fail to generate a return on investment (Pastor & Bender, 2019). By instilling effective
theories, techniques and cognitive frameworks organisations are better poised for creative
breakthroughs.

Detailed study into innovation practices allows for organisations to implement structures that are
conducive to fostering and supporting creativity and innovation. Further to this, Hargadon & Sutton
(2000) propose the concept of knowledge brokering, in that strong innovators apply systematic
processes to consider existing concepts and ideas as raw materials to rebrand new ideas. As such,
this highlights the vitality of a theory-based strategic approach to innovation. For example,
disruptive innovation techniques would not be suitable for business operating in large markets. The
consequences of applying incorrect creativity, innovation and design techniques can be seen in the
real world. Kodak failed to identify digital cameras as a disruptive innovation and ultimately missed
out on the technological revolution. Nokia lacked fundamental design-based thinking, in that they
did not adopt human centric approaches to their product development and the result was poor end
user satisfaction.

The associative theory links creative cognition with associative processes, in that new and original
ideas are in fact not very original and are found by connecting obvious existing ideas (Runco, 2014).
By understanding this theory, individuals can develop processes and pathways to reaching
innovative ideas through divergent and convergent thought patterns. Through this process,
organisations are offered multiple solutions to effectively resolve complex problems.

Theoretical based approaches in comparison to non-academic methods have proven to derive more
value and enhanced the chances of company survival in real world scenarios. Thus, evidence-based
research models stimulate creativity and innovation successfully.

Conclusion

Theoretical frameworks and models for individual and organizational creativity, innovation and
design-based thinking are the most effective tools for businesses to remain competitive and
experience long term sustainability. By understanding underlying meanings, it is clear that the
composition of these concepts are complex skills must be developed through academic learning.
When leaders have studied the literature surrounding these factors, the organisations are
structurally equipped to apply processes that stimulate creative cognitive behaviors. The
effectiveness of systematic approaches has been proven to be successful in real world organisations
such as Yahoo!, and lack of theory-based decisions have proven to be the downfall of businesses
such as Kodak, Nokia and Blockbuster. Companies that demonstrate the academic capital where
there is a fundamental comprehension of the theory to apply the appropriate techniques to develop
creative ideas, innovate in the most effective manor with solution-based design thinking create the
most value.
References

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